# Order No. 5 — Pre-Hearing Issues (GAJA Rider docket) The Commission's pre-hearing order, issued eight days before the 2026-04-29 evidentiary hearing. Directs the parties to be prepared to address two specific issues in addition to questions the Commission may have at the hearing. Issued by the full Commission ([[Doyle Webb]] Chairman, [[Justin Tate]], [[Katie Anderson]]) — not under ALJ delegation. This is the order that reveals **what the Commission itself wants to know**, before it rules. ## What's inside - 26-008-TF_69_1.pdf — 2 pages. ## Key takeaways The Commission directs parties to address: 1. **The actual rate impact, year-over-year.** "Provide an estimate of EAL's rates for all sectors as of the first billing cycle of January 2026 for all rate and rider schedules and the proposed GAJA Rider revenue rate increase. Provide an estimate of EAL's rates for all sectors as of the first billing cycle of June 2026 for all rate and rider schedules and the proposed GAJA Rider revenue rate increase." — i.e., what does the rider mean for customer bills *in context of all other rate changes*? 2. **Cost-of-debt reconciliation.** "Arkansas Code Annotated § 23-4-1304(m)(1)(D) provides that the cost of debt used in calculating the cost of capital shall be the cost of short-term debt and the cost of long-term debt approved in the investor-owned electric utility's most recent general rate case proceeding or formula rate plan annual filing. Reconcile the cost of debt used in EAL's Annual Update and the cost of debt used in EAL's 2025 Formula Rate Plan Compliance Filing in **Docket No. 16-036-FR**." — directly engages the [[Attorney General Testimony on the GAJA Rider|AG's cost-of-debt challenge]]. The Commission notably **does not** include the Ironwood strategic-investment question in its pre-hearing issues list. That question — Staff's central challenge, which would cut the rider by $33.9M — is not surfaced by the Commission as a pre-hearing focus. ## People and orgs mentioned - [[Arkansas Public Service Commission]] (the full Commission, issuing the order) - [[Doyle Webb]] — Chairman, signatory - [[Justin Tate]] — Commissioner, signatory - [[Katie Anderson]] — Commissioner, signatory ## Concepts invoked - Cost of capital under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-4-1304(m)(1)(D) - The Formula Rate Plan (16-036-FR) as the benchmark for cost-of-debt ## Cross-references - The cost-of-debt question is the [[Attorney General Testimony on the GAJA Rider|AG's contention]] in the surface production — that EAL used an unreasonably low short-term-debt balance, overstating the return on the $1.24B of CWIP. - The order's deliberate framing of "all rate and rider schedules" reflects the cumulative-impact concern in the [[Class Cost of Service Study|base rate case]] context. ## Open questions / follow-ups - The 2025 Formula Rate Plan compliance filing in Docket 16-036-FR (referenced as "Doc. # 1123" in a footnote — i.e., docket-relative numbering) is the rate-case benchmark for cost-of-debt; not ingested.